"Raider D" took time out to pay his respects to Davis. (Henry Schulman/The Chronicle)

"Raider D" took time out to pay his respects to Davis. (Henry Schulman/The Chronicle)

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Raiders fans pay respects to Al Davis at Oakland chapel

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Here are the first many paragraphs of a story Henry Schulman is working on about services for Al Davis and his interment in Oakland.

By Henry Schulman

Chronicle Staff Writer

How fitting that Al Davis will spend eternity alongside another Hall of Famer.

In a private and unannounced service, which followed a similarly unannounced funeral at an Oakland temple, Davis’ casket was interred Monday in Oakland’s Chapel of the Chimes mausoleum and columbarium, nine days after his death at 82.

Lying in the adjoining crypt is blues great and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Lee Hooker.

The family and Raiders kept the location of the funeral and his final resting place secret so they could grieve privately. Shortly before 1 p.m. Monday, the team announced on its Web site and on Twitter that the public was invited to pay its respects at Davis’ crypt.

Because there was no notice, only a handful of folks came by at any moment Monday afternoon, but that is expected to change. The 102-year-old mausoleum, a stunning and light-filled, Spanish-style creation of the architect Julia Morgan, is open to the public, and that includes the area in which the Raiders owner was laid to rest.

Atop Davis’ crypt, temporarily, sit the Raiders’ three Super Bowl trophies and a Raiders helmet. Davis’ signature is cast in metal and will adorn the crypt permanently. For now, the front of the crypt is adorned with a color photo of a middle-aged Davis, wearing sunglasses, in conversation with someone not pictured.

He no doubt was demanding one of his head coaches call more “go” routes.

A 51-year-old floor-tile installer, who goes by the name Raider D, read about the public viewing and dropped everything to come pay his respects. He said he was raised on 77th Ave. in Oakland, a Ken Stabler’s throw from the Coliseum.

“Al is one of the three entities that gave the city of Oakland its identity in the ‘60s, I always felt,” Raider D said. “They were the Black Panthers, the Hells Angels and the Raiders. They all had a way of doing things their own way.

“I’ve always been known as Raider D, so he gave me my identity as well,” he said.

Raider D happened to be wearing a T-shirt that said, “Raiders Bad Boys. Take no prisoners.”

Then, he pointed to another phrase on the shirt below the helmeted skull-and-crossbones logo and said, “It’s funny. It says, ‘R.I.P.’ ”